September 20, 2016 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

Photographs of the S.S. United States, one of the fastest ocean liners every built, It was operated from 1952 to 1969 (Source: "Abandoned America: Photographer captures the past glories of the US which have now been left to crumble"--Daily Mail).

• "Wake The F[**]k Up, Already!!!"--Mountain Guerrilla. In response to the recent bomb attacks in New Jersey and New York, and the stabbing in a Minnesota mall, Mosby strongly suggests that readers get training to deal with wounds and carry a trauma kit of some sort.
• "Why Water Bladders are Essential Backcountry Hunting Gear"--Outdoor Life. The author warns that, in the wilderness or countryside, sources of water can be scarce, so you should be prepared to stock up on water when you have the opportunity. The best method, he has found, is carrying water bladders (i.e., collapsible water bottles) that can be filled and used to replenish drinking bottles or canteens. 
• "Are YOU easy prey for pickpockets? Watch a professional demonstrate the seven ways that victims are targeted – and he reveals how you can avoid being robbed"--Daily Mail. Video and article at the link. Most of the stratagems involve a two-person team: one to distract the mark and the other to steal the targeted item.
• "The Americans Who Stockpile Guns"--The Atlantic. This article reports:

A sweeping new survey by researchers at Harvard University and Northeastern University finds that roughly half of the nearly 300 million firearms in the United States are concentrated in the hands of a tiny sliver of the U.S. population: Just 3 percent [7.7 million] of American adults own some 130 million guns, according to The Trace and Guardian US, two news organizations that first reported on the survey. (The full survey has not yet been released; Guardian US and The Trace reported plans to publish a series of stories about the findings throughout the week.)

This 3% of "super-owners," according to the study's authors, own on average 17 firearms apiece.  (Of course, that is assuming that there are only 300 million firearms in the United States, and that there are only 75 million gun owners). 

I am deeply suspicious about surveys about gun ownership because most everyone I know follows a practice of not disclosing that the fact they own firearms to strangers for any reason, let alone disclosing how many they own. Consequently, I have a hard time believing that pollsters could find a meaningful sampling of gun owners that would answer their questions truthfully.

On the other hand, many of the people I know that do a lot of shooting or hunting also own multiple firearms. Just like you can't golf effectively with but a single club, you can't have a single firearm to fulfill all your shooting needs. So perhaps there is some truth to the researchers' findings. 

• Update (9/20/2016): An article from The Truth About Guns details the likely problems with the (as yet) unreleased study on firearm ownership that is the subject of The Atlantic article. 

• "Random Jihad Syndrome In Bavaria – Knife In Back From Bicylist"--Anonymous Conservative. Discussing the implications of increased violence by immigrants/refugees in Europe, AC writes:

When the Apocalypse hits, and this becomes more common, the rabbits will realize why nations traditionally had borders, and only allowed individuals of like disposition to reside within them. This is why the third world remains the third world when technology and foreign aid is so ubiquitous. Statistically, there are just too many imbecilic savages which crop up within their populations.

The only question will be, after the cleansing, will the populace realize why the punishment for treason by countrymen was traditionally death.

• You've been warned: "Hillary Hates You"--by Kurt Schlichter at Townhall. Schlichter writes:

There is one key fact to understand about Hillary Clinton, one unarguable truth that explains all of her terrible policy positions and her dishonest, self-defeating behavior. Everything she believes leads to this conclusion. Everything she does, even the stupid things that have hamstrung her, stem from it.

Hillary Clinton hates you.

She doesn’t dislike you. She is not irritated with you. She does not merely prefer the company of others, though she certainly does prefer the company of those who will either pay her or suck up to her.

She hates you.

You’re deplorable. You’re irredeemable. With a wave of her limp, clammy hand, this sick old woman dismisses you from the company of those whose opinions have value, whose interests matter, who have any moral claim to participation in self-governance. You are less than nothing. You are vermin to be, at best, driven from society.

Schlichter also warns what this will mean to "the Deplorables" if Hillary should be elected:

... But if she wins, just imagine it. Imagine her hatred backed up by an energized federal government packed with her partisans.

Will the Justice Department check her? No, it will be a club to bludgeon her enemies into submission – and we know who her enemies are, don’t we?

Will the IRS check her? No, the IRS uproar will be not a cautionary example of government gone rogue but a template for the future.

Will the FBI check her? Get real. Comey is too busy counting his 30 pieces of silver while wearing a loincloth made from the pelt of his legendary integrity.

She hates us. We are deplorable. We are irredeemable. And so neither she nor her loyal minions have any self-imposed moral limits on what they may do to us to ensure that we are utterly crushed. Take away our rights? Strip away our livelihoods? Prevent our participation in our own governance? It’s open season on us, all because she hates us.

• "The proof a vitamin pill really CAN help you see better: TV's Dr Michael Mosley tried it himself"--Daily Mail. Mosley was trying to replicate findings from the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, at the Waterford Institute of Technology. It had performed research indicating that taking a supplement containing a mixture of the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin can improve your vision by protecting and even boosting the health of the macula, repairing damage from blue light, allowing you to see color better and increasing night vision.